Pegasus News Election Survey: Patrick Booth, candidate for Lewisville City Council - Place 3

Pegasus: What is the one greatest thing that the Lewisville City Council has achieved in the past year?

Booth: The greatest thing the council has achieved in the last year is the approval and final decision for the Railroad Street Athletic Complex. Serving on the Park Board for the last four years, the public has been waiting for this project for years now and it will include long anticipated projects such as the dog park, skate park, and more softball and soccer fields. It will be a great asset to the city and, being on the board that recommended the project, I am very glad the council has taken final actions to see it through.

Pegasus: What is the single biggest improvement that the Lewisville City Council needs?

Booth: The single biggest improvement that the council needs to address is better communication with the citizens at large. This is the reason I have decided to run and this is the issue I will address directly if elected. While the council has made significant progress concerning festival attendance, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done with regard to voter turnout, community involvement, and simply fair representation. In 2004 I proposed a Community Involvement Board, a committee to address this issue specifically, and while I received favorable responses form the council members individually, there has been no official action taken. My first goal will be implementing that board to address our most immediate problem.

Pegasus: What is the toughest problem that you have ever solved?

Booth: Communication between a governing body and the citizens it represents is the biggest problem I have solved. I proposed the board for the city, but was not on the council at the time and could not see that the action was taken. I have been on the Park Board for four years and have organized the board to see that there is a member at every Parks and Leisure event. It provides a greater interactive experience to have the directors seeing their plans implemented first-hand. It also provides for better, more efficient direction. This is the committment I have brought to the Park Board and I hope to bring the same committment to the whole city on the Council.

Pegasus: If you are elected and can only achieve ONE quantifiable thing in your term, what would it be?

Booth: If I can only achieve one quantifiable thing, I would bring a stronger voter turnout. To ensure that the council is truly representing the best interests of the city we need more than the one percent of voters we have regularly seen. If it is difficult for the citizens to reach the council to express their opinions we cannot be sure the council's opinions are a fair representation of teh voters and their interests. With every new voter that participates we come that much closer to the ideal of a working democracy. For the government to truly be run by the people we need more than one percent representation and I will see that we have it.